1798 An Overview of the Rebellion

Thomas Pakenham melodramatically established the context of the Great Irish Rebellion in Irish History, in the preface to his book, The Year of Liberty---

"The rebellion of 1798 is the most violent and tragic event in Irish history between the Jacobite wars and the Great Famine.

In the space of a few weeks, 30,000 people - peasants armed with pikes and pitch forks, defenceless women and children were cut down or shot or blown like chaff as they charged up to the mouth of the canon.

The result of the rebellion was no less disastrous: Britain imposed a Union on terms that proved unacceptable to the majority of the Irish People, and there was a legacy of violence and hatred that has persisted to the present day."